An American Amber Ale. Epicenter Amber received a Bronze Medal at Reno Canfest, and an 89 Rating in 2011 DRAFT Magazine. A deep copper amber hue with a firm, toasted malt character, lightly sweet with a crisp dry finish. Epicenter has become a gateway ale for novice Craft Beer drinkers. The light, approachable taste is quenching and appealing to new and long term Craft lovers alike.

Attractive red-amber color with plenty of foam in the glass. Light malty flavor with a fair amount of roasted malt. Bitter twang of hops makes up the rest of the flavor. Quite earthy with a mineral taste. A bitterness of nut shells and burned biscuits takes over for the finish. A woody sensation and somewhat acidic. The malty sweetness emerges shyly for a little while.

What seems like off flavors at first sip are apparently the odd fruity hop mixed with a grainy malt flavor. It reminds me of some mysterious casserole slightly scorched in the overn. While I don't care for this much, it is actually quite drinkable once you get used to the taste. From the 12 oz can bought at AJ's Fine Foods in Chandler. (710 characters)

This strikes me as a crowd pleaser amber. Nothing really obnoxious or boisterous about it. Delivers a pleasant drinker with little stepping outside of the bounds of the standard style parameters. There are worse beers to have to drink while waiting for a layover in an airport. (277 characters)

Good amount of foam from a steady pour, lacing has some retention. Bright amber color, very clear. Light herbal citric hop on top of a clean caramel and bready aroma. Slick, almost milky mouth feel with a nice crisp snap. This ale screams "malt bomb" with a thick creamy caramel and nougat sweetness to a more level toasted breadiness in the finish. A quick brush of hop bitterness helps to balance. Clean palate throughout. Grainy and semi-dry in the end.

Not all American ales need to be hops, hops and hops. Nice to see a malt bomb here and there. This one ending to up being a good quaff. (627 characters)

Had on tap outside in 100+ AZ heat Served in a pint glass. Amber color with small head, leaves no lacing in the glass. Not much to the smell on this one I get a little malt but not much else. Taste is of malts and caramel. Don't get any sense of hops. Mouthfeel provides decent carbonation and alcohol with some sweetness on the end.

Overall this is a refreshing beer that is relatively light for a hot day. (410 characters)

Big ups and major props to my fellow CANquistador, indiapaleale, for sending me this and one other in support of my version of The CANQuest (TM)! I love where it hails from (Chandler, AZ) and I look forward to trying it out.

From the CAN: "Craft Beer For Beer Drinking".

It came in a RexAm CAN with a wide-mouth opening, which is always good for an interesting Crack & Glug. My nearly inverted pour resulted in some cascading action as well was two foamy fingers' worth of tawny head with good retention. Color was a deep coppery-amber with NE-quality clarity. BUPGOO! Nose was very sweet with caramel malt. Mouthfeel was medium with a caramel sweetness offset by a molasses flavor, which I found both interesting and enjoyable. I am usually not big on sweet, malty beers, but this managed to strike a nice balance. Finish was sweet but not cloying. I would not want a steady diet of it, but I also would not be averse to putting it in my cooler. (948 characters)

A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a four-finger thick, nicely amber tinged, tan colored head. The beer is a nice bright amber color with red highlights; when held up to the light it shows brilliantly clear, copper red hue. The beer smells quite fruity with notes of berries being the most noticeable fruit component. This is backed by a crystal malt biscuit character and caramelized malt aromatics. Somehow this reminds me of a fruity, young, red wine.

This has a fair amount of crystal malt sweetness to it, this is accentuated by a berry like fruitiness in the flavor. The finish has a touch of sweet-tea like crystal malt flavors that can be a bit annoying as it clings to the palate. There is a light bitterness throughout that becomes a bit more biting towards the finish; this helps to balance the sweetness and fruit character. This seems almost a bit tart somehow, though I am not sure what is contributing this particular flavor. A medium body is accentuated by the malt sweetness, but this remains fairly quaffable.

Definitely an interesting beer; I am now even more confused after reading the brewery's description of this beer, it is not completely off the wall, but it seems a bit different than my experience. I am actually enjoying the aroma of this beer and even the flavor is pretty good. (1,324 characters)

Poured with a nice foamy, frothy, off white head and some lace. Color is a clear dark amber. Aroma is a slightly roasty malt. Flavor is almost really good except for a strange heavy grain thing. Body is good and so is carbonation. Finish is like flavor and of a shorter length. (277 characters)

No canning dateThanks to my friend amanda for sending this one to me from AZ.

App- A medium colored orange with some dark orange highlights and more of a wood stain sheen behind. I would even say that a little bit of fading yellow towards the bottom. Two finger slight off white head. A nice little sheen of cling.

Smell- A little bit of sweet apple skins with a lot of malt behind it and a slight bitter note from some hops. This was along the lines of a Fat Tire but this had less punch and even had some deeper citrus and I would say some leather and grass notes behind it.

Taste- The taste follows the nose with more much more malts and some deep citrus and a slight hop balance. A touch dry flavored with a grassy. Im coming to find out that Red's just aren't my things. Not bad per se. Just dont like that off malt base.

Mouth- Medium bodied and medium carbonation. A bit thick and slick. Retains some of the leather/grass after flavor.

Drink- I used to drink Fat Tire by the 12 rack. Amazing how tastes change and you get away from old styles and decide thats just not what I like anymore. Glad I got the state tick. Probably will shy away from Reds/Ambers for a while. (1,220 characters)

Pours a dark amber with white head that is large at first pour, laces nicely, and provides a nice creamy entry for the first few sips. Nose is on the lighter side but fruity. Palate offers a significant malt presence, with caramel and toasty flavors. This focus of this ale is clearly the sweetness. Body is medium to light though, and it is almost watery quite honestly. Finishes fruity sweet and light. (404 characters)

This one pours from the can a nice cherry-amber color and almost perfectly clear. The one-finger head of grayish tan bubbles is rather filmy and oily-looking, fizzling away slowly to a pocked top layer. Thin lines of horizontal lace are left in its wake.

Strong nuttiness in the nose. Almonds, caramel, a bit of peanut, crackers, some earthy hops. It's a very warm scent.

In the taste: caramel-coated peanuts, popcorn, almonds and biscuits. It's sweet mid-palate before a rather dry finish.

Medium light body with medium carbonation that's prickly and lightly painful. The beer fizzes up a bit as it moves about. Smooth and super crisp.

The teeter-totter of this beer's flavor leans a little toward the sweet side, and I like that about it. It's a lovely mix of nutty malt and earthy hops. Very crisp and easy-drinking. (827 characters)

a clear deep amber pour with 2 fingers of fluffy white head which quickly disappeared. smells of chocolate, caramel, rye bread. a malt heavy flavor, trying to remember what grain this tasted like.. as a homebrewer, i tend to usually try a spoonful of the spent grains after i'm done with a batch.. this tastes just like a recent one.. thinking it's caracrystal or rye. anyway, hints of chocolate, bready, and slight caramel flavor. very mellow, but VERY tasty. light bodied, champagne-like carbonation.

it's a nice beer, but honestly leaves much to be desired. hardly any lacing, the head died off quick, smell was pretty one sided, as was the taste.. mouthfeel was nice but nothing really more than average. i gave it an extra 5, because although it is mostly malt based in every aspect, it's at least a mellow sweet malt, and not too bitter or anything, but honestly it's just an average beer all around. (907 characters)

Picked this one up in these sweet yellow cans at the liquor store across the street from the hotel we are staying at in Sedona. "Craft beer for beer drinking". Mellow rust color and very little head with a sweet candy nose and some backing malts.

Plenty more cloying malt sweetness in the taste. it finishes clean however, and actually tastes better in the can than in the table glasses in the hotel kitchen. Carbonation is a little high but not debilitating. This is a solid amber beer and fits the slogan well. (513 characters)

Pour - dark amber in appearance with some red and orangish hues and a thin wispy head that dissipates rather quickly.

Aroma - lots of caramel, honey, stewed grains and bran cereal along with toasted brown bread, caramel and apple butter. Plenty of aromas pulling you in to this sweet smelling, toasty brew. Everything seems to be in place for this beer to be pretty tasty and easy drinking. Time to dive in.

Taste - right away this hits the tongue light, sweet, malty and toasty. A lot of those aromas play out similarly on the tongue. Definitely the caramel, molasses and honey flavors that tend to come with the style as well as some nice roasted malt flavors. Not too sweet, not all that hoppy and like SanTan's own description states, the, "light, approachable taste is quenching and appealing to new and long term Craft lovers alike." I don't think we could have said it any better.

Overall - solid amber ale. This is a style that has become a staple at brewpubs in this country and even the most novice beer drinker has some expectations of it. SanTan has done well with this brew, it hits all the marks and is satisfying even to the most seasoned beer drinker. (1,173 characters)

I had not originally picked this beer when I walked into the establishment, but my friend persuaded me to try it out, saying that it was a really good beer.

The beer produced a nice, clear red/amber color with a nice off-white head that was well retains. The beer gave off a nice light malty aroma, with an ever so light hop aroma. The taste of the beer was good, so much so that I had another. The beer had a lighter body, as expected, and it was smooth, refreshing and very easy to drink. Overall, the beer was good. One that I would defiantly try again if out in Arizona. (627 characters)

Poured a clear amber body with a thin ring of white head. A quite nice looking amber ale. Scents of sweet, bready malt, lightly toasted malt, light caramel, fruity esters, a light hint of butter (diacetyl), and very low levels of floral hops. Overall impression of aroma is of a classic sweet, malty amber ale, with just a touch of hops and a little bit of diacetyl that aids the aroma in this instance. Flavor begins medium-sweet with notes of sweet, bready malt, caramel, toffee. light amounts of apple, nutty malt and light toasted malt. The middle continues flavors of caramel at a light level, with medium levels of nutty and toasted malt character and light toffee. Finish is medium-sweet with light notes of caramel and buttery toffee and moderate toasted and nutty malt flavors. Aftertaste is buttery toffee, toasted and nutty malt and very light caramel with a light bitterness from floral hops. A very light hop bitterness is present throughout. Overall impression of flavor is of a nicely malt forward profile with a slight undercurrent of bitterness, toasted and nutty malt keeping it from becoming cloying. It is nicely rich and pleasant, a very good example of an amber ale. Mouthfeel is medium-light bodied with high carbonation and a smooth, creamy feel that finishes slightly drying. Overall impression of mouthfeel is of a very good, easily drinkable mouthfeel that is nicely refreshing. Overall this is a very good amber ale. It is malty, balanced, sessionable and refreshing. The aroma and flavor are quite nice and it has a pleasant feel. Very good. (1,570 characters)

12 oz can pours a medium clear amber with good head and lacing. Aroma is definitely malt leaning dominated by caramel with light lemony hops. Taste confirms the aroma - malty caramel and bread all the way with no real hop zing here. Medium carbonation with drying finish and a bitter aftertaste (in a bad way) that hangs on. Sure, I love hops, but I don't mind a malty amber every once in a while if it has a distinctive flavor. This one just isn't that interesting. (466 characters)